Coming Home

Personnel: Broken Arrow High School Choir, Axyl Langford (vocals); Eric Davis (guitar); Justin Smith , Michelle Sherman (violin); Krassimira Figg (cello); Gary Linde, Reid Bennett (woodwinds); Dave Johnson , Steven Goforth (trumpet); Damien Bassman (drums); Steve Croft (percussion).
Audio Mixer: Dave Reitzas.
Recording information: The Broken Arrow Performing Arts Center, OK.
Photographers: Jill Solomon; James Gibbard.
The "home" in Kristin Chenoweth's Coming Home is her hometown of Broken Arrow, the Oklahoma town where she was raised. She returned to Broken Arrow, where there is now a Broken Arrow Performing Arts Center complete with a Kristin Chenoweth Theater, to give a concert that told her story through song, and that is the basis for this 2014 set, which is her first live album. Strictly speaking, not all of these songs have been recorded by her before, nor were they necessarily part of Broadway musicals starring her. Instead, Chenoweth chooses songs she sang as a child, songs that were instrumental in her stylistic and aesthetic development, songs she's always loved and then songs that made her name, including a clutch of tunes from Wicked. A few curve balls are thrown, particularly in the form of Donna Summer's disco classic "No More Tears (Enough Is Enough)" and Dolly Parton's "Little Sparrow," which is just enough to suggest the spunk and mischief that are crucial to Chenoweth's charm. Nevertheless, the real selling point is her virtuosity and versatility, both of which are on display here in what may be her most complete record to date. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine